Is the hobby project finally coming of age?

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Amid rumors of an Apple TV update bustling with apps and gaming capabilities, the company has given it's little hockey puck set-top box a nice promotion in terms of its online store placement.

Despite becoming an integral part of many users home entertainment arsenal, the 'hobby project' had been tucked away with iPods until today. Now it has its own product category, just like iPhones and Macs.

And, with a product page comes details of accessories, including the AirPort Express and Extreme routers (which can grant powered speakers the gift of AirPlay when combined with a 3.5mm jack), HDMI cables and AppleCare plans.

The website change, which also saw everything in the store draped with unnecessary Valentine's Day nonsense, may indicate that the rumoured hardware upgrade might well be on the way.

Mini console?

Recent reports have suggested that Apple plans to push App Store games on the device, allowing users to download top titles to be played on their TVs, controlled via smartphones or a dedicated controller.

The current generation Apple TV device is already capable of beaming games to the television set via AirPlay, but latency issues make that more effective for some users than others.

It is also thought that any update would likely see Apple open up access to third-party developers to bring their applications into the fray. The presence of the likes of Spotify, Evernote and more would surely prove useful to some users.

Those reports have suggested it is this upgrade rather than a flagship Apple TV set that will be arriving in the first half of 2014. Would this ease your televisual cravings or will only an iTV do?